HRL Laboratories Ramps Up High-Speed Gallium Nitride Semiconductor Foundry

Epitaxial growth and thermal processing are integral to HRL Laboratories’ T3 GaN foundry services. © 2020 HRL Laboratories.

Early Access Program Enables T3 GaN Multi-Project Wafer Prototypes at a Fraction of Fabrication Costs

HRL Laboratories, LLC, has scheduled quarterly multi-project wafer (MPW) runs in calendar years 2021 and 2022 for its T3 gallium nitride (GaN) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) technology. HRL’s T3 GaN is a highly scaled 40-nm-gate-length GaN device technology with high cutoff frequency (fT = 200GHz), high breakdown voltage (> 50V), and low on-resistance (R on < 0.9 Ohm.mm). It enables high power-added-efficiency power amplifiers or low-noise amplifiers with low-noise figures. The MMIC technology is primarily used at ka-band frequencies and higher (30 – 150 GHz). This leading-edge millimeter-wave (mmW), high-electron-mobility transistor technology is for next-generation, high-data-rate wireless communications, high-resolution radar imaging, and many other defense and civilian applications.

This early access program enables external design teams to prototype radio frequency and mmW GaN circuitry at a fraction of dedicated fabrication costs. HRL’s commitment to at least four scheduled annual runs offers customers more stable and predictable development and roadmap planning. HRL currently supports two T3 GaN MMIC process design kits (PDKs) in Cadence/AWR Microwave Office and Keysight ADS, with PDK training and layout support.

“Having collaborated with DARPA to successfully complete three MPW runs in the past 18 months, we are opening this foundry model with more frequent fabrication runs,” said Florian Herrault, HRL’s GaN Strategy Lead. “The foundry is available to universities and businesses of any size.”

HRL Laboratories processes GaN wafers in a 10,000-square-foot ISO Class 4 cleanroom, and is a US Department of Defense Trusted Foundry. Details are available at the company foundry website (www.hrl.com/products-services/foundry) or by email at fab[at]hrl.com.

HRL Laboratories, LLC, Malibu, California (hrl.com) is a corporate research-and-development laboratory owned by The Boeing Company and General Motors specializing in research into sensors and materials, information and systems sciences, applied electromagnetics, and microelectronics. HRL provides custom research and development and performs additional R&D contract services for its LLC member companies, the U.S. government, and other commercial companies.

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